


Cherish

by orphan_account



Series: Falling Differently [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Gen, M/M, Spoilers through Visionary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 21:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter how bad things get, Isaac will always bring a bit of light into his world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cherish

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since we've had any interaction between Derek and Stiles - and that trend will not be broken by this part, so I'm sorry about that. They will be getting some face time in the next part, though.

When Isaac is as clean as he will ever be, Stiles takes him out of the little tub and swaddles him in a towel. He hears the tiny werewolf snuffling softly and is helpless against the smile that blooms on his lips. No matter how bad things get, Isaac will always bring a bit of light into his world.  
  
Stiles had been as excited as everyone else in the Lahey pack when Karen first found out she was pregnant. Babies are always celebrated in packs, and even if that wasn’t the case, Stiles has rarely met an infant he did not take to instantly. He supposes he might have felt self-conscious about it growing up, had he not been exposed to the pack’s attitude towards their pups. In light of the reverence werewolves have for new life, his own reaction seemed perfectly normal. It wasn’t until Stiles began attending public school after his mom died that he realized most boys his age felt differently, and by then he was convinced that _they_ were the weird ones.  
  
He’s always known that he will want kids of his own someday. It could have happened under far better circumstances, but he will never allow Isaac to believe that he is unwanted, and he will do whatever it takes to make sure that he grows up happy and safe.  
  
For a moment, he thinks with a pang of the house they fled from. He wishes they could have stayed, and that he could raise Isaac there, in his childhood home. His own dad had grown up there, and his mom had only lived a few streets down as a little girl.  
  
Coming to Beacon Hills may have been the best decision he could make, given the circumstances, but knowing that does not make Stiles feel any less uprooted.  
  
Big blue eyes blink up at him, and he drags himself away from his bout of wallowing. There are more important things.  
  
“I’m guessing you smell better now. I can’t really tell, since I’m still all gross,” he murmurs in his usual tone. The first person who tries to use baby talk on Isaac is going to be ripped a new one. “How about this? We’ll get you all diapered and clothed and then you can hang out in the bouncy seat Alpha Hale found for you while I get a shower. That way, we can both be all squeaky clean and we can smell better together. Does that sound good?”  
  
Isaac blinks up at him again.  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes. Alright, my man. Let’s do this thing.”  
  
He makes sure his hold on Isaac is firm before he kneels down to dig around in his backpack for a clean onesie and one of the last clean diapers. That’s going to mean a trip to the store as soon as possible. Hopefully, he can bum a ride off of someone, since the jeep is still -  
  
If he wasn’t currently holding Isaac, Stiles would smack himself. He never told the Hales about his jeep. For all he knows, it’s already been towed away, which is simply unacceptable. That’s his mom’s old jeep.  
  
With that possibility in mind, everything becomes more urgent, and he diapers and clothes his charge quickly but carefully. Pressing a kiss to his nose, Stiles promises that he will only be stuck in the bouncy seat for a little while and then straps him in.  
  
He shucks his clothes in record time, also pealing off the dressing around his leg, and steps into the shower; his first attempt at using the knobs yields a frigid spray of water, and he has to bite back a yelp as he tries to fix it, a string of words he hopes Isaac will not learn for a very long time reverberating inside his own head. The temperature of the water gradually rises to something more tolerable, and he goes about his business. In its entirety, his first shower experience in the Hale house might take three minutes, and that’s if he is being generous. Regardless, it gets the job done, and he does feel at least marginally more human after hopping out and toweling himself off.  
  
After wrapping his towel around his waist, he pulls his toothbrush and travel-sized toothpaste out and brushes away his morning breath. Then, he roots around for his last clean shirt and pair of underwear, and the jeans he was wearing on the night he and Isaac first left home, since there is a bloody tear towards the bottom of his other pair.  
  
Giving his leg a cursory examination, he decides that he will need to dress it again. Though it will probably fade over time, he is going to have a thin, jagged scar just above his right ankle. He roots around underneath the bathroom sink, eventually coming up with bacitracin, gauze, and medical tape. Although he hates the thought of anyone being hurt, he is glad that the Hales know well enough to keep supplies in the house in the event that someone is.  
  
Absently, as he takes care of the wound, he wonders if the humans in the Hale pack are as prone to accidents as he is. It’s unlikely.  
  
He washes his hands and then dries them on the towel he unwraps from around his waist. Dropping it on top of the one he used for Isaac, he yanks on his clothes and then slides his backpack onto his back.  
  
Freeing Isaac from the bouncy seat, which he apparently does not mind too terribly, he opens the bathroom door and steps out. Since he figures Talia will still be in the kitchen, he retraces the path from earlier, determined to see what can be done about his jeep.  
  
Aside from Isaac, that jeep is all he has left.


End file.
